Gaza/Israel

•Hamas spokesman accused Israel of violating the ceasefire after Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man in the Gaza "buffer zone".There are conflicting reports about the reason the man and others were in the Khan Younis buffer zone. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki, speaking from talks with Italian leaders in Rome, said the incident was "a clear violation of the agreement and should not be repeated". An IDF spokeswoman claimed Palestinians had tried to breach the security fence and enter Israel so they were in breach of the ceasefire. The IDF said its troops fired warning shots before firing at the legs of hundreds of Palestinians. Health officials said Anwar Qdeih, 23, was shot in the head. Hamas evacuated the buffer zone after the shooting, which left 15 other Palestinians injured.

'Thuggery' condemned

Anti-Morsi demonstrators, who accuse the president of having launched a "constitutional coup" on Thursday, were reported to have set fire to the offices of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party, to which Morsi belongs, in the Suez Canal cities of Suez and Port Said.

Clashes also erupted between the two sides in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, the southern city of Assiut and in Giza, prompting Essam el-Erian, a leading figure in the FJP, to condemn the attacks as "acts of thuggery hiding behind political forces".

In Cairo the two opposing camps gathered in large rival rallies in different parts of the capital.

In a packed Tahrir Square, youths opposed to the decree fought intermittent battles with police firing volleys of tear gas outside the French Lycée and American University. Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood meanwhile bussed in supporters from across the country to hear him address a rally outside the presidency in Heliopolis.

'Threat to democracy'

Global anti-corruption organisation Transparency International has warned that Morsi's constitutional declaration "concentrates too much power in the executive branch, a move that runs contrary to Egypt’s transition towards democratic reforms". It goes on to say:

Transparency International calls on the president to respect the independence of the judicial system necessary for ensuring the rule of law applies to all in Egypt.

The separation of powers between the judiciary, the legislature and the executive branch is the foundation stone of a strong democracy. As described in Transparency International’s 2009 comprehensive national integrity study of Egypt, we emphasise that the independence of the judiciary is a key plank in the fight against corruption and should be protected. The positive steps undertaken during the Arab Spring need to be followed through.

Transparency International calls upon President Morsi to reconsider his position and to maintain the independence of the Egyptian judicial system and the separation of powers that ensure a democratic state has the checks and balances that protect the rights of the people.

3.58pm GMT

One of the hotspots in Cairo at the moment appears to be Qasr al-Aini street.

Attacks againt Morsi's party offices

More on attacks against Muslim Brotherhood offices across Egypt. AP reports:

In Alexandria, protesters ransacked an office of the Brotherhood's political party, burning books and chairs in the street. Supporters of Morsi and opponents clashed elsewhere in the city, leaving 12 injured.

A party building was also attacked by stone-throwing protesters in Port Said, and demonstrators in Suez threw petrol bombs that burned banners outside the party building.

Protesters storm an office of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood Freedom and Justice party and set fires in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. State TV says Morsi opponents also set fire to his party's offices in the Suez Canal cities of Suez, Port Said and Ismailia. Photograph: Amira Mortada/AP

Morsi

“I stand with you whoever you are or wherever you are...those who support me and those who oppose me. I would never be biased towards one camp against the other.”

However, the president slammed Mohamed Mahmoud Street protesters describing them as “paid thugs” who were pushed to attack the police, adding that he does not accept any attack on state institutions.

“We saw videos showing little kids saying they were paid to throw rocks in Mohamed Mahmoud," he said further claiming that the money stolen during the Mubarak era is now being used to disrupt the path of the revolution.

Egyptian protesters hold a banner depicting Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi as a Pharaoh, during a rally in Cairo against his decision to grant himself sweeping new powers. Photograph: Andre Pain/EPA

Updated at 4.15pm GMT

3.13pm GMT

Call to halt EU support for Egypt

Marietje Schaake, a member of alliance of Liberals and Democrats, said:

President Morsi placed himself and all his decisions above the law. The danger of a presidential tyranny looms. The EU should send a clear signal and freeze all financial assistance to the Egyptian government, until the president will be under the law and subject to judicial oversight again.

All the revolution ...might be in danger ...by those still loyal to the old regime ...

If I see my country and Egyptians are in danger ....I will act ..it's a must ...

Everyone who is trying to hit the country has to be held accountable ....

Undoubtedly there are some pitfalls ....but we are trying our best.

2.24pm GMT

Morsi

Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi has told supporters he is working for all Egyptians, responding to protesters who called him an autocrat for his decree that gave him extra powers. On a state outside the presidential palace, he said:

I am for all Egyptians. I will not be biased against any son of Egypt Opposition in Egypt does not worry me, but it has to be real and strong .... I respect those who want to oppose in a clear and clean way.

He praises the judiciary but rails against corruption and says some members "still belong to the past [Mubarak] regime".

2.17pm GMT

Audio from Tahrir Square

Peter Beaumont, now in Tahrir Square, is phoning in updates faster than we can transcribe them.

One protester compared Morsi to Mussolini, he said.

In the most recent update Peter describes clashes between the security forces and anti-Morsi protesters outside a French school.

Muslim Brotherhood offices torched

Summary

Here's a summary of the developments so far today:

Egypt

•Clashes have erupted between anti-government protesters and supporters of President Mohamed Morsi in three Egyptian cities after the Muslim Brotherhood leader assumed sweeping new powers. The two camps threw stones and chunks of marble at each other outside a mosque in of Alexandria and a Brotherhood office was stormed. Similar clashes erupted in the southern city of Assiut and in Giza. Anti-government protesters also clashed with the police in central Cairo.

Summary

We are hearing from state TV and radio there have been clashes in various cities, in the canal cities of Port Said, Ismailia and Suez. The headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood's party, the FJP, have apparently been set on fire.

I have just been listening to Egyptian radio now, to a report about arguments in mosques, where the preacher has been trying to sort of encourage people to follow the pro-Morsi line to support the decree and been pulled away by anti-Morsi demonstrators. They'd been some widespread anticipation that they'd be trouble and it's not quite clear what the trajectory of this at the moment is. But clearly what happened yesterday, this widening of powers by this decree has even polarised what was already a pretty polarised political situation here ...The level of anger among the opposition to Morsi has reached a new level.

Peter said that despite the anger over Morsi's decree there is no sense of a unified opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Having have just come from the Muslim Brotherhood demonstration in Heliopolis. Part of the point they make, and actually fairly, is that the people in Tahrir are essentially not united. They say that one of the misconceptions of outside observers is that somehow this represents a unified bloc. And they say "Look these are people who didn't get their own way politically, they're not united, they're serving their own interests and actually we are representing a much more united Egypt".

12.45pm GMT

Pro-Morsi rally

Muslim Brotherhood supporters have been bussed in from all over the Egypt to show support for president Morsi, Peter Beaumont reports from a pro-government rally outside the presidential palace in Cairo.

I can see flags and hear people chanting ‘The people support the president’s decree’. It’s about 20 minutes by car [from anti-Morsi protests in Tahrir Square]. We’ve just been hearing on the radio reports already of clashes in Suez between pro and anti-Morsi demonstrators and there were some clashes last night in Mohammed Mahmood in Cairo.

Peter pointed out that as well as assume sweeping powers Morsi’s decree also promised to prosecute security forces and former regime officials over the death of protesters, as anti-government activists have been demanding all week.

And some commentators have pointed out that the judiciary needed to be reined in, he said. But Morsi's declaration still threatens to polarize Egypt, he added.

What people are appalled about is the way it has been done - a sort of sledge hammer approach.

Peter, who covered this week’s Gaza ceasefire negotiations, said there was no evidence of a diplomatic deal under which world leaders would turn a blind eye to Morsi’s power grab as a reward for his role as peace broker.

“There is the coincidence of timing, but until I’ve seen evidence I’m going to hold judgement on that,” he said.

12.35pm GMT

Alexandria

The Muslim Brotherhood/Freedom and Justice Party headquarters in Egypt's second largest city, Alexandria, is reportedly on fire.

Gaza

Samir Zaqout, Gaza resident and head of the al Mezan centre for Human Rights has told Mona Mahmoud via Skype about the impact of the ceasefire.

My family and kids were so happy of the truce and as we heard the news we began to reorganise the house again. We had been living in the basement most of the time during the aggression and had moved lots of stuff like bedding, blankets, clothes, pots, bottles of water and kids' food to the basement. Right after the truce we all were engaged in putting things in their right place. We all were happy that at the end we did not lose any member of the family or our house like other Palestinian families. We were able to sleep for the first time continuously and we did not hear any explosion or gunfire at all. It is completely quiet.

Yes, we are overwhelmed with grief and distress about the Palestinians who were killed or became homeless but we are still happy that we won over Israel this time. I believe [Binyamin] Netanyahu and his coalition will have a big failure in the coming elections.

We think it is a victory because we expected thousands of Palestinians to be killed if this aggression lasted longer and it would be even worse than the aggression of 2008. So this time people are happy that the losses were less and the political gains were more.

12.18pm GMT

Cairo 'up in arms'

Despite protest fatigue in Cairo today’s demonstration is expected to be significant because of the level of anger at President Morsi’s power grab, Abdel Rahman Hussein reports from the Egyptian capital.

Before Morsi’s announcement there was a sense of fatigue [but] a lot of people are up in arms about this. This is not a benign or mild turn of events. People are riled up and fatigue has disappeared for today at least.

There are fears of violence if Morsi's supporters come near anti-government demonstrations in Tahrir Square, he said.

Morsi’s declaration can be seen as part of his spat with the judiciary, but the scope of his new power grab and the fact that he felt he had a mandate for them, is “very worrying”, Abdel said.

US silence on Morsi declaration has given credence to conspiracy theories, he added.

Some people are saying that because [Morsi's] standing has increased in the international community and because he has played ball on foreign policy in alignment with the interests of the United States and Israel, that he felt empowered enough to pull off a move like this.

There are commentators who think this takes us back to the far from halcyon days of Mubarak, when the US would turn a blind eye to internal or domestic issues as long as Mubarak played balled on foreign policy.

We are very concerned about the possible huge ramifications of this declaration on human rights and the rule of law in Egypt. We also fear this could lead to a very volatile situation over the next few days, starting today in fact.

Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood supporters are holding a rally of their own to back the president.

10.39am GMT

Gaza

A Hamas spokesman accused Israel of violating the Egyptian-mediated truce and said the group would complain to Cairo. after Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man in Gaza, Reuters reports. There are conflicting reports about the reason the man and others were in the Khan Younis buffer zone. From Reuters:

Medics said Anwar Qdeih, 23, was hit in the head by Israeli gunfire after he approached the security fence that runs along the Gaza frontier - an area that Israel has long declared a no-go zone for Gazans.

A relative of the dead man, who was at the scene, told Reuters that Qdeih had been trying to place a Hamas flag on the fence. He added that an Israeli soldier had fired into the air three times before Qdeih was hit in the head by a bullet.

In the past, Israeli troops enforced a no-go zone on the Gaza side of the frontier, firing on anyone approaching in an attempt to prevent infiltration attempts. Since the ceasefire, growing numbers of Gazans have entered the zone.

Syria: Deir Ezzor killings

The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirms that Rwaili was found dead in the city, but said it was unclear who killed him.

Rwaili was a novelist and former president of the Arab Writers Union in the area, it said.

The Observatory claims rebels control a large area east of the city, from the outskirts to the Iraqi border. But its director, Rami Abdurrahman, said it was impossible to tell who controlled the city itself.

Meanwhile, activists have uploaded video claiming to show the defection of a police commander from the city. He is named as Brigadier Munir Hariri.

At this point, the balance sheet is not absolutely clear. Israel showed it would not be cowed by the Islamist wave and that it retained both freedom of action and Western backing. But it hesitated before a ground invasion and felt compelled to reach a quick ceasefire that did not clearly address its central concerns; among reasons for its reluctance was greater mindfulness about inflicting irreparable damage to relations with Cairo. Israel also benefited from strong Western support, principally from the U.S. But Washington’s apprehension about the conflict dragging on and negatively affecting broader regional dynamics was palpable; in the end, the U.S. evidently pressed Prime Minister Netanyahu to endorse the Egyptian proposal.

For its part, Hamas can claim a major triumph: it showed it would not be intimidated and has basked in unparalleled visits to Gaza by Arab officials. The ceasefire agreement promised greater access of Gaza to the outside world, a considerable and long-sought achievement. The Islamist movement proved itself the central player in Palestinian politics. In Gaza, demonstrators conveyed a genuine sense of triumph. Still, the picture cannot be said to be entirely positive: if Arab rhetoric was more combative, the actions were somewhat stale. Prisoners of their own dilemmas, Egypt’s rulers offered little fundamentally new: outraged denunciations, the recall of their ambassador to Israel, behind-the-scenes mediation and cooperation with Washington in finding a solution.

As to what should happen next to secure a genuine peace, it says:

At a minimum, and as a first step:

Egypt should relaunch an energetic push toward reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, so that the PA can fully return to Gaza, and a unified government can be formed, elections held and negotiations resumed between Israel and a patched-up national movement; and

it should use its reaffirmed cooperation with the U.S. to try to persuade Washington to adopt a more flexible, pragmatic attitude toward Palestinian unity.

9.35am GMT

The Guardian's Jerusalem correspondent, Harriet Sherwood, writes:

Police in Jerusalem have restricted access to the Al Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock today, saying there could be disturbances after Friday prayers following the conflict in Gaza.

Several people have been arrested in connection with Wednesday's bus bombing in Tel Aviv. Police said the suspects came from Beit Lakiya, near Ramallah. One however had become an Israeli citizen after marrying an Israeli-Arab woman. The bomb was detonated remotely by a mobile phone after being placed on the bus. Five people are still in hospital.

9.28am GMT

Gaza

Gaza medical sources say Israeli soldiers, stationed at the border line between Khan Younis and Israel, have shot dead one Palestinian adult and wounded 10 teenagers in the disputed buffer zone, al-Jazeera reports:

Israel has imposed a de facto “no-go” area for the 300 metres of Gaza that borders Israeli territory

An Israeli government source told the Guardian, following Wednesday's ceasefire agreement that an "ongoing dialogue will start within 24 hours" covering underlying issues of concern to both parties. One issue was the Israeli-imposed buffer zone inside the Gaza border.

Updated at 11.36am GMT

9.16am GMT

Tahrir Square braced for further demonstrations

Cairo's Tahrir Square is braced for further protests, according to journalists at the scene, but so far only a few demonstrators have gathered.

Bel Trew - بل ترو (@Beltrew)

Looking at dozens of protesters,mostly milling around as clashes take a break,csf guy next to me says they expect violence today #tahrir

Egyptian protesters take cover from teargas during clashes with police forces in Mohamed Mahmoud street near Tahrir Square on Thursday. Clashes erupted late Monday between police and protesters who were marking the first anniversary of deadly clashes in the street. Photograph: Khaled Elfiqi/EPA

Bel Trew - بل ترو (@Beltrew)

Passed by the ambulances by Omar makrum 20 gas injuries through the night, right now relative calm but they expect trouble later #tahrir

Operation Pillar of Defence has ended, as it should have. While it could have been ended a few days earlier, those who ended it on Wednesday still deserve praise. It's impossible to avoid comparison both with Israel's last operation in Gaza, Cast Lead, and with its previous government, headed by Ehud Olmert. The (limited ) achievements are the same, but the price that was paid - by both Israel and residents of Gaza - was incomparably lower.

It's possible that the same achievements could have been obtained through diplomatic activity, and it's regrettable that this option wasn't explored. But once it decided on a military operation, Benjamin Netanyahu's government demonstrated relative restraint.

This restraint demonstrated strength: The Israel Defence Forces killed and wounded many fewer innocent civilians this time around, and therefore, Israel's international standing also suffered far less damage.

Updated at 10.03am GMT

8.39am GMT

Summary

Welcome to Middle East Live.

Egypt looks set to be the main focus today as protests are expected across the country over President Mohamed Morsi's decision to grant himself sweeping new powers.

Previous constitutional declarations, laws, and decrees made by the president since he took office on 30 June 2012, until the constitution is approved and a new People’s Assembly [lower house of parliament] is elected, are final and binding and cannot be appealed by any way or to any entity.

The President may take the necessary actions and measures to protect the country and the goals of the revolution.

The substance of the decisions is not all bad news for those who hope for a democratic transition. The prosecutor general who has been dismissed was an old-regime holdover trusted by few people. The Constituent Assembly, constantly threatened with dissolution by court order, was working in a manner that seemed to deepen divisions. Non-Islamists were having trouble breaking themselves of the habit of praying for foreign, military, or judicial intervention and Islamists had depleted the very limited supply of amity they had brought to the transition. Trials of old regime elements had clearly gone awry and victims of military and security force brutality been abandoned. Morsi’s moves work to address these issues ...

Perhaps he will use his authority to protect a process that will build a functioning democratic and pluralistic system. That is not impossible. But it’s an odd way to build a democracy.

Hamas finally abandoned its Damascus headquarters this year, unable to stand the contradiction between demands for Palestinian freedom and the brutal suppression of the Syrian uprising. In early November, the Syrian security authorities closed the Hamas offices.